


an ancient form of magic

by alohavera (orphan_account)



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Fluff, Friendship/Love, Greed Island Arc, Injury Recovery, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/alohavera
Summary: Injuries heal faster when treated with love.
Relationships: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck
Comments: 2
Kudos: 110





	an ancient form of magic

**Author's Note:**

> Set right after the dodgeball match, ep. 71 :)

Killua looks down at his hands. They are trembling, shaking slightly, almost as if they are still buzzing with the residual energy of Gon's attacks. He has been through all kinds of torture training throughout childhood, every type imaginable. Pain is a familiar concept to him by this point. Still, the sensation in his hands is serious enough to have him wincing.

He glances at Gon, who is trading remarks with Razor, feels lucky that this boy is his best friend, not some opponent he'll have to face in a life-or-death match. He looks down at his battered hands again. He would hate to be on the end of a punch like the last one Gon had given to the ball.

"I'll answer your question about Ging," he hears Razor say, and Gon replies cheerfully, "Alright! But I have to do one thing first." And the sound of his voice swings towards Killua. 

The light-haired boy whips his hands behind his back, trying to hide the fact that he's been staring at them. Because really, he doesn't want to make Gon worry. Doesn't want to make the injury out as something worse than it really is. He tries a smile, feels a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. "What is it, Gon?" he asks, trying to keep his voice deliberately light.

"Killua." His best friend steps towards him until they are face-to-face. Gon holds out one of his hands in the space between them. "Let me see your hands."

The corner of Killua's mouth twitches. "Why?" His focus shifts from his best friend's concerned face to over his shoulder, where Razor is watching them expressionlessly.

"You know why." Gon's expression, on the other hand, is determined. His features have that stubborn set to them which Killua knows so well — it means Gon has made up his mind and it's useless to resist.

Still, he feels his face getting warm in this familiar but deeply unsettling way, so he stalls and says, "Didn't you hear Razor, baka?" He hides his sudden embarrassment in a show of bluster. "He has information about Ging for you."

"It can wait." Gon's gaze is pinned to his, doesn't waver a fraction. "Please, Killua."

The light-haired boy sighs heavily, defeated, then slowly brings his hands out. Gon cradles them carefully in his own, holding them more by the wrists where Killua hasn't been burned. There's a shadow over Gon's face as he assesses the damage.

"It doesn't hurt, Gon," Killua hopes his voice sounds offhand, tries to dispel his friend's worry. He tugs at his hands, trying to free them from further observation. "Just forget — "

The sound of pattering footsteps approaches them, and suddenly he finds himself assaulted by all sorts of verbiage, "What were you thinking, you idiot! You could've gotten yourself killed!" Bisky is tweaking the top of his left ear, holding it open and screaming into it. 

Killua feels himself go a bit dizzy with shock. He shakes his head, trying to recover, opens his mouth to retort loudly at the old hag who is still glaring daggers at him. However, Gon says something before he can start, "Bisky, do you have some medical tape I can use?"

Her gaze clears as she turns to Gon, blinking at him. "Sure." She pulls a roll out of her pocket, revealing that in all likelihood, she had been planning to be the one to fix Killua up. "You know how to do this?" she asks while handing it over to her spiky-haired protegee.

Gon hesitates for a second before accepting the roll from her. "I've seen it done before. I mean, I've had it done to me, so it can't be that hard, right?" He turns back to Killua, uses his teeth to loosen the free end of the tape, grips the injured boy's wrist with the fingers of his free hand.

Killua watches Gon as he works, teeth peeking out between his front teeth in concentration, his eyes burning with resolve and focus. He wraps the burned digits carefully, applying the right amount of pressure to the wounds. Killua is being taken care of, by his best friend — the first time an event like this has ever happened to him. He swallows, his heart beating fast.

"Oi, Gon," he says softly, not really wanting to break Gon's concentration, but feeling unable to help himself. Gon hums a reply, not looking away from where their hands are joined. "You could've just let Bisky do it, you know," he mumbles. 

Gon finishes wrapping one hand. He tears the tape with a canine, then moves on to the other. He flashes a smile at Killua before starting. "I know. But this is my fault, right? Helping you recover is the least I can do."

If Killua's face had felt hot before, it was nothing compared to now. "Idiot!" Also, it seemed that Killua's natural reaction to his face turning hot was to yell. At whoever was making him blush. Which was always Gon. He didn't stop to think about this technicality. "I helped you because I wanted to. It was my decision, it's none of your business to feel bad."

"I know that," Gon says, holding Killua's hand in place as he tries to tug free again. "But still, I feel some responsibility." There is guilt now, swimming under the surface of Gon's golden gaze as he examines Killua's swollen knuckles, the angry, red lacerations across his palm. His eyes find Killua's again and he says, "Besides, injuries always heal faster when treated with love."

Killua startles, says, "What?"

"Haven't you ever heard of that?" Gon goes back to unrolling the tape, smiling as he continues, "Mito-san always told me that love was like an ancient form of magic. That it had the ability to heal things. Whenever I got hurt and she had to fix me up, she would remind me."

"Do you think it's true?" Killua asks quietly.

"I don't think it's true," Gon says, "I know it's true."

_ Love, _ Killua thinks, thinks of how his family had inflicted pain on him as a child, thinks of how they never did anything to help him, to repair the damage they'd done to him. He watches the boy before him, full of love and light, fixing him so carefully. He imagines Gon as a little boy, at the dining table in his kitchen, squirming while Aunt Mito treated the wounds he'd taken during the day's usual adventures on Whale Island. He wants this, this simple kind of love, this thing he has gone without for so long, for a lifetime. His fingers twitch involuntarily, making Gon pause in his work, look up.

"Did I hurt you?" he asks, the worry clear on his face.

"No, sorry." Killua looks at the ground beside Gon's shoes. "Keep going."

Gon finishes the job, tears the tape with a snap of his fingers, and Killua holds out his hands, examining his best friend's handiwork. Gon does the same, his expression turning sheepish.

"It's pretty messy, isn't it?" He puts a hand to the back of his head, scratching. "Maybe I should have let Bisky do it after all — "

"It's perfect," Killua says loudly, attracting Gon's attention as well as the attention of everyone else around them. "I mean — " Killua stammers. The bandages around his hands are done a little unevenly, but they feel comfortable, wrapped with just the right amount of pressure. "It feels fine." He gives a little demonstration by flexing his fingers. "See?"

Gon's eyes light up and he gives a sigh of relief. "I'll wrap them for you again when the bandages need to be changed." He slips the roll of tape into the pocket of his shorts, then gives Killua a quick salute. "I'm going to go talk to Razor now, okay?"

"Yeah, go," Killua encourages him. "You better hurry before Bisky talks his ear off."

Indeed, at some point Bisky had run off to station herself by Razor's side, talking (flirting?) with the muscular man enthusiastically. The two young boys share a look, roll their eyes at their incredibly capable and at the same time immensely whimsical teacher.

"I'll make it quick then," Gon says to Killua, already turning his shoulder. Killua nods, walks over to the sideline to join the other members of his party. 

His hands, though still hurting, feel sort of warm. Like even though Gon's touch is no longer on them, the essence of it lingers. He watches Gon talk to Ging's friend on the other side of the gym, thinks about how he would do anything for this brother-friend he has found by fate.

_ Love. _ Killua looks down at his hands again, now securely wrapped. He can already imagine them healing, thinks that Mito-san was definitely right.

Love can perform miracles.

**Author's Note:**

> Why did I take so long to watch Hunter x Hunter?? these two kiddos have my heart ;o;
> 
> after the dodgeball match ended, this is fully how i imagined events to play out. so it can be taken as a canon fix-it or something :)


End file.
